There exists a large demand among bicyclists for headlamps, taillights and brake lights. All of these devices require a power source typically in the form of a battery.
Currently many different lighting solutions exist for bicycle headlamps and taillights. These include light-emitting diode (LED) systems. LED headlamps and tail lights usually consist of groups or banks of individual LEDs, and are usually configured in a geometric pattern. However, these existing lighting solutions have several disadvantages. For example, typically the light produced by current lighting systems is not properly formed to serve the intended purpose. As one example, LED headlamps tend to emit narrowly focused beams of light. These narrow beams of light illuminate less of the observed scene than would a broader beam such as that produced by a car headlight. Furthermore, the bicyclist is less visible to others on the road including pedestrians, other bicyclists and cars. To the extent that broader beam solutions are available, they tend to require large amounts of power, generate large amounts of heat, and can disperse light more widely than is needed for the target area.
Another growing need for bicyclists is an affordable, easily removable, and automated brake indicator light. Lack of brake indicator lights makes it difficult for a following vehicle to detect whether a bicyclist is slowing down, stopping, or decelerating before a turn. The solutions that are currently available for automatic brake lights on bicycles require a sensor attached to the wheels or bicycle braking system to sense either deceleration, the depression of the brake lever, or other movement in the braking system such as movement of a cable or caliper. These systems can be complex to install. The sensor is typically placed some distance from the brake lights themselves, which requires wiring that is cumbersome and decreases reliability. This makes the brake light more failure prone, and usable only on one bicycle, as the wiring and switching tends to be very difficult to transfer from bicycle to bicycle. In addition, existing brake light systems are relatively expensive, considering that these are items that can easily be stolen, lost or damaged.
Current power sources for electronic bicycle components (for example, lights and cyclometers) include batteries, and pedal, hub, or friction generators. The type of power source can vary depending upon the type of component and its design. If the component requires more power than a coin cell battery can provide, larger battery cells must be accommodated. As bicyclists use more power-consuming devices, the need increases for an affordable multiple-cell power source that can be articulated, shaped, and easily mounted to the different non-planar surfaces of a bicycle. It would also be desirable to have such a power source that allows for the addition of more battery cells if needed.
Bicyclists also require the ability to emit sounds that make their presence known to other vehicles and pedestrians. Traditional solutions include handle-bar mountable bells. If the person(s) the bicyclist is trying to put on notice is a pedestrian, the bell may be effective. However, if the person(s) is in a vehicle it is very unlikely that they can be effectively warned of the bicyclist's presence with nothing more than a soft ringing tone.